


Violet

by BunnyDal



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drowning, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyDal/pseuds/BunnyDal
Summary: It was different from Sora, who made him feel serene, this man made him feel on edge…it was too much to handle. There was hope, and happiness and heartbreak and desire all at once. He could hear something that he hadn’t paid attention to in years and it made his blood both freeze and boil.
Relationships: Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Violet

**Author's Note:**

> First off, wow! I was not expecting my previous story to receive so much attention. I'm very grateful!
> 
> Secondly, I started this story a while back and I just let my fingers write so I'm not sure how I'll continue this story or if it will even be continued. I left the rating lower because there isn't anything crazy and that may change as I go through and re-read and reedit the story. 
> 
> This story is an AU story, I tried to keep the character's personalities as...cannon as possible though. 
> 
> There may be some allusions to Roxas suffering from depression. If that bothers you, please take caution reading or do not read at all.

Was it a moment noticed, or a moment forgotten? 

____

Was it just something he never learned? 

____

Was the endless cacophony of lips moving, hand gesturing, feigned anger, playful laughter just something he couldn’t wrap his mind around? 

____

_“No.”_ He deduced after a few minutes of prying his eyes off a spot on the wall, just to pretend to listen to something that Olette was telling him. 

____

It was just…not real. Something about how he was living was not real. From the dirty yet cozy little hideout they’d made up all those years back to the twilight sky that lazily shifted it clouds above them, there was a disconnection.

____

Sora would probably tell him otherwise. The spunky brunette, carting along his two best friends, would just tell him to on his best happy face and momentarily make him see reality. But here, the magic vanished.

____

He should be happy. Then this should feel like something to him, right? Well, to be truthful, Roxas felt like he was being over dramatic. He did _care_ for his friends an awful lot, despite the empty, dreamlike state he relegated his lens to see.

____

In fact, he almost felt like he cared too much, like these moments should be more. Even that these quiet moments should _mean_ more but, there was just quiet. It was like trying to grasp a slippery slope and he was doomed before he even set out to try. And the more the disconnection grew, the more he felt as though this wasn’t _his_ reality.

____

A set of fingers with sea-green colored nails snapped in front of Roxas’ face.

____

“Hey! Earth to Roxas! I was asking if you were coming with us?” Olette groused, looking put out that the blond wasn’t even listening to her.

____

Hayner piped up, half-laughing, “Don’t get mad Olette! You know our resident space cadet takes a few hours to function, ‘specially during the summer. Earth to Roxas? Do you read me?”

____

“I think he’s going to read a struggle stick to your head instead, Hayner.” Pence joked, his arms struggling a bit to fit behind his head, so he had to leave it to just folding his hands behind his neck.

____

Bewildered and slightly caught off guard, Roxas finally took a good look at his surroundings. The immediate threat was Olette who had moved from sitting next to him to standing in front of him. Her hands were on her waif-like hips and her head was cocked slightly to the side. Bossy mode.

____

“Rox, Kairi invited us to Destiny Island,” she started, her tone stern, soft and exasperated. “It’s for next week because Kairi wanted us to me—”

____

“And I was saying, hell yes we wanna go! The beach, the babes, the action! We’re going and that’s final!”

____

“Hayner!”

____

“I vote yes too! I really want to study that treehouse Sora and Riku built some more. It’s wicked.”

____

“Pence…ugh. Roxas, will you be able to?”

____

A go with the flow type of guy. That’s all he needed to be, besides, seeing Sora would put his mind at ease.

____

“Sure, I’m in.”

____

The hideout erupted in cheers, at least from Hayner and Pence. Olette tried to stay calm but the excitement was clear on her face, she was excited to see Kairi and the girls again. They were all tomboys in his book though. Leaning back, he watches Hayner slide Pence a high five before the lean blond made his way over to where Roxas sat. A heavy arm clapped down around Roxas’ shoulder as Hayner messily took a seat.

____

“Rox, we gotta get Riku to show us that dive with our struggle sticks, ya know.”

____

“Ahh, Hayner. You know I hate the guy.” Hate no, misunderstood. Riku was too similar, too close to the disconnections. It was a source of complete chaos for his mind. Hayner didn’t know that so he kept continuing to chirp on, trying to convince Roxas to put aside his distaste for the silver-haired teenager for ‘sweet, Sifer-kicking moves.’ His words, not Roxas’.

____

Their little spat ended in Roxas promising to at least try and Hayner accepting that. That was why they were friends after all, they compromised. Ha, Hayner and compromised in the same sentence. Only with Roxas. Pence saw fit to voice this thought making the friends laugh again, but it’s kind of hurt the sullen blond to keep doing. It was fun, right? This was fun, right? So why did it feel so hollow, so empty?

____

He’d asked it to himself as they left, as he packed, as he lay on his bed with his dolphin lamp slowly moving into sleep mode. At least he would see Sora again. Sora…he turned to a picture of him and the spunky brunet on his bedside table, both boys eating sea salt ice cream while on a sea green beach towel. They both were soaking wet and Sora was caught with his mouth wide open in a laugh.

____

It was calming, and he kept it right next to his nightstand to remind him that life was fun.

____

Life was fun.

____

…Life was fun.

____

—  
“The beach!”

____

“The sun!”

____

“The _babes!_ ”

____

“Guys help me!” As usual, the gang stuck Roxas with trying to get the suitcases out of Hayner’s mom’s minivan, the blond having his run of the mill with it. They had all packed light, save for Hayner and Olette. Olette brough a bunch of souvenirs for Kairi and the others and Hayner brought all of their struggle gear. All of it. Pence hurried back to Roxas to help him.

____

“Sorry man, you really can’t beat that view!”

____

“I know man, it’s cool.” Good natured grins exchanged, and the two boys made swift work of emptying out the back of the van. By the time they got everything out to trek into their hotel, the two distracted parties were focused back on their plight.

____

“Come on guys, lets hurry up and go meet everyone!” Olette squeaked, bouncing up and down in a way that immediately drew Hayner’s eyes where they weren’t supposed to be.

____

“Yeah, let’s go score some girls Rox!” Hayner leered, making Olette stop and slap his arm playfully.

____

The two playful fought some more while the luggage was moved, settled, and dug inside to make sure everyone got the right things. The gang quickly got showered and changed for the summer weather. After locking up, they were piled into the minivan again and off again to their main destination.

____

Olette beamed as they came upon a collection of homes far away from most of civilization, surrounded by white, almost unblemished sand and glistening ocean waves. There were coconut trees everywhere and a sturdy looking tree home that looked to have several floors and connecting bridges the further you went up. A wooden dock lay hidden away from it all with a few boats tied to posts to keep them in place.

____

Breathing in the sea air, Roxas was the first of the group to step foot on the sand, hearing the call of the ocean and feeling at ease. It felt right to be here…this place had meaning. Twilight Town was nice but, he swore to himself that as soon as he could, he would have a home right here in Destiny Island. Hayner was out next after putting the van in park and shutting off the engine, whipping his light vest off and running down into the sand.

____

The sight made Roxas crack a smile before he was running across the sand as well, Olette and Pence hurrying after them at their own pace. The two blonds had just gotten into a foot race when Roxas felt a sturdy body tackle him from behind, sprawling him on his stomach into the sand. Groaning, he picked his head up with care and sputtered out a weak, “Sora.” The boy on top of him gave a goofy grin.

____

“Roxas! You came!” the boy on his back piped out, giving him a powerful hug before getting off his back. Roxas stood once more on the soft sand and gave a small grin of his own. Sora was technically his cousin he was told, but sometimes it felt more like they were brothers. Their mannerisms were the epitome of opposites attract but, Sora tended to be magnetic to everyone. Even people far removed from him.

____

“Of course I came. Hayner wouldn’t shut up about the ‘babes.’”

____

Hayner took offense to this.

____

“Hey! I’m happy to see these guys too!” The wiry blond cried, running back to give Sora a fist bump and waving to Riku who was making his way over to them at his own pace. Olette instantly fidgeted and hid a bit behind Pence who snickered. Credit given, Roxas did at least glare at Riku but the older teen was so obviously not paying attention to either of them that it was almost insulting.

____

“Sora, you’re going to kill someone tackling them one day.”

____

“But Riku!” Sora’s whine made Riku’s lips twitch, “We haven’t seen them in forever! Gotta make sure they know they’re welcome!”

____

The silver haired teen just sighed and ruffled Sora’s hair. It was only then that he acknowledged the rest of the gang. Roxas found himself being coolly stared at but, neither boy could hold any heat. It was more of a well-rehearsed act at this point. Funny, he really did dislike Riku…once upon a time. Olette finally peeked out from behind Pence, clearing her throat.

____

“Hey Sora! Rh-Riku!” She almost flubbed Riku’s name she was so nervous, “Where’s Kairi?”

____

Sora’s head perked up and he grinned at Riku, “Oh, Kairi’ll be here soon.”

____

“She’s bringing Namine, and her brother.” Riku added on mysteriously.

____

The boys all stopped at that point, going quiet for a minute before collectively expressing their surprise.

____

“Kairi has a brother!?”

____

“Yeah,” Sora chimed, hands behind his head as he swayed next to Pence. “She said he went to the military or something like that. We didn’t know either.”

____

“She was really happy that he was coming back though.”

____

“I told you guys Kairi wanted us to meet someone. She was really excited about it.” Olette mused softly, her sort of indirect ‘I told you so.’

____

Sora and Riku shared a look and the younger smiled deviously, punching the elder boy on the shoulder.

____

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s do the thing!”

____

The group looked perplexed, but Riku echoed Sora’s excitement.

____

“I made a new obstacle course with Wakka. You guys’ll never survive.”

____

“What’s that?! Oh, it is on! Roxas, lets kick their asses!” Hayner’s competitive switch was on and Roxas could even feel himself getting excited.

____

All four boys raced to the course while Pence and Olette shrugged and named themselves score keepers. An hour later, Kairi stumbled onto everyone still on the new obstacle course grounds.

____

Roxas and Hayner lay sprawled out on the sand, both looking wiped out. Sora just barely managed to keep upright and Riku was barely standing, it was only his pride that kept him upright. His flushed face told a different story. Laughing, she walked over to Olette who was shaking her head at the foursome.

____

“Olette! Where’s Pence? What happened?”

____

“Kairi!” The brunette girl hopped up to hug the redhead tightly before pointing a finger back at the tired boys. “The usual. They all went completely Rando and tried to crush the course. Pence is looking at the zipline to see how it was rigged up. He tried out the course too though, probably’ll build one back home.”

____

The redhead laughed again, looking back at the boys, and shaking her head.

____

“They’re all goofs.” She chirped and Olette was happy to agree.

____

She tugged her friend over to the haggard boys and smiled, waving at someone in the shadows. “Guys get up. I have to introduce you to someone.”

____

Groaning, the blonds struggled to their feet, using each other for leverage. Sora, who’d let go and sprawled down to their level, rolled over to Riku who helped him up.

____

“That’s pathetic Sora! You couldn’t even touch my time.”

____

“Shut up I was close!”

____

“Roxas was closer to me than you, maybe you should take some tips.”

____

“Riiiikuuu I will--!”

____

“Guys!” Kairi, as the equalizer, gave them both a pout which made both teenagers look away bashfully. Smiling again, she waved her hand to the shadows once more. Namine slowly made her way out first. Even though she knew everyone, she was still wary around crowds. Her giant sketchbook almost dwarfed her as she clutched tightly to her chest.

____

“He’s coming up Kairi, he’s just taking his sweet time.”

____

“Eh, let him. The boys were beat up any—Lea!”

____

All four boys turned to look at the man who’d just walked through the doors. Tall, thin but muscular, he reminded Roxas of a coyote. He wore a black vested jacket with the hood pulled slightly over his hair and had these intense green eyes.

____

Like acid…tearing into Roxas very thoughts.

____

Like drowning in a vat of nightmarish memories.

____

Roxas looked into them and felt his flesh rend from his skin. It was all too real, and it hurt, they were so cold and yet scorching. Terror overtook him along with joy. Fear crept into his mind along with curiosity.

____

It was different from Sora, who made him feel serene, this man made him feel on edge…it was too much to handle. There was hope, and happiness and heartbreak and desire all at once. He could hear something that he hadn’t paid attention to in years and it made his blood both freeze and boil.

____

_His heart._

____

It wouldn’t stop beating! The constant thunking in the back of his ribcage like a hail a bullets being fired. The pit of heat in his mind burning a pressure-laden brand into him like searing iron. Who was he? He couldn’t be here? No…

____

No No No No!

____

_It hurt._

____

Roxas took a step back, then another and another. The man’s gaze was locked onto him and only him, his face carefully blank but his eyes, for the first time, seemed to heat up. Predator. Predatory. There was commotion around him, but he couldn’t hear it. Those eyes seemed to widen with surprise and concern, but it was too late.

____

He’d already fallen into the water.

____

____

Roxas learned how to swim at a young age but now it was like he’d forgotten. The space in his mind couldn’t keep up with the reset of life he was trying to swallow. Swallow. He was swallowing sea water! He tried to reorient himself, breathe, but he just sank further down. In the endless deep, the feeling of emptiness became greater and greater until he wasn’t sure if he was even alive anymore.

____

Why was he even living anymore?

____

His body went limp and his memories faded as he finally just let it go.

____

_“..xas…!”_

____

_“…ov…can’t…ee--”_

____

_“..alm…down…ea…got…im…”_

____

Breath.

____

Air.

____

Unconsciously, Roxas took a large gulp of it, opening his fearful eyes to gaze at the endless blue of Destiny Island’s sky. He had to spit up water, turning away from whoever was leaning near his side. There were flurries of noise, buzzing and people checking to see if he was okay, but he wasn’t.

____

He could feel the cold dread of what just happened sink into the bottom of his shoes. He could empathize, really empathize, with Hayner punching him in the side so hard he’d bruised. He took another breath and lay back in the sand, still coughing up water while Riku pulled the wiry blond away from him.

____

Sora’s big blue eyes filled up his vision, the tears in them stubbornly held back as he hugged the blond tightly.

____

“Roxas…God, thank god you’re okay.” He croaked out.

____

The brunette was vibrating with fear, to the point where his fingertips were like ice where they rested on his back. He’d been clenching them. Kairi also knelt down to hug him, then Olette. Laughing bashfully, he wanted to push down the feeling of warmth this spurred, but he couldn’t.

____

Then, it was there again.

____

Pure acid, eating him alive.

____

Lea, the new guy, looked like a drowned cat now. His shocking mane of crimson hair was soaked through and his vest jacket was slung wetly over one of his shoulders. The guy was a lot more buff than initially given credit for. Around his powerful neck were dog tags—military dog tags. On his pale chest were several burn marks and a few tattoos to cover them. He could sudden understand why the man wore a vest in the sweltering heat.

____

Swallowing, he pushed his eyes back up to meet Lea’s and the man’s eyes softened. Had he saved…?

____

“Thank goodness Lea was here! He jumped in right after you Roxas!” Kairi answered his question. He struggled to his feet, coughing up the last little bit of water as he walked over to the man. The redhead just raised a brow.

____

“Thank you…” The blond said quietly.

____

“Don’t mention it.” Lea replied.

____

This close, Roxas didn’t want to move away. It was like facing the sun and actually being able to touch it. They stared at each other for so long that, had the rest of the group been honestly paying attention, it would have seemed inappropriate. Finally, Lea cleared his throat and repeated, “Don’t mention it,” to try to close to conversation and ease the tension.

____

Namine’s gaze fluttered to catch the two but she said nothing to them, instead piping up to the group.

____

“I think that’s enough excitement for one afternoon. Sora, I think you told me your mom made cake?”

____

“Yeah!” Sora, suddenly reenergized called and bounced over to Roxas, grabbing his arm. “We can play video games for the rest of the day. Geeze, Roxas. You know how to make an arrival!”

____

There was pain in that statement, fear, and a sense to protect and it washed over Roxas like nothing he ever knew. The smile he returned was as genuine as it was unfamiliar.

____

As they piled in, he could hear Kairi and Lea quietly talking, the older redhead rolling his eyes at the younger one.

____

“It’s Axel, Kai. Got it memorized?”

____

“Not on your birth certificate. Its Lea, and I’ll always call you Lea.”

____

“I wouldn’t argue with her, Axel. Kairi’s gotta feisty streak.” Olette’s sweet tone cut in and was followed by Namine’s even sweeter giggle.

____

“It’s my damn name, I’ll argue all I want with her.” Lea, no Axel, grumbled then called out to Sora, “Ey Sora, gotta towel I can use? Kinda got all wet saving prince charming over there.”

____

This prompted some giggles and chuckles from everyone.

____

“Yeah, I’ll get you a few. C’mon Riku, I need help. Race ya!” Of course, Riku wouldn’t turn down that challenge and both of the boys took off. The girls gathered in the living room and began to catch up while Pence and Hayner started to raid Sora’s game case.

____

That left Roxas…and this Axel person in the foyer of the house. Looking up at the tall red-head, Roxas felt another apology on his lips but wasn’t able to say it again. Instead, Axel drug him into the kitchen.

____

“Okay, kid.” He started, his tone a bit matter of fact even as Roxas’ nose bristled at being called kid. He wasn’t that short, and he was 19 damnit! He was a man! “The names Axel, not Lea. I feel like I’m gunna have to remind everyone and their mother with Kairi yappin’ off.”

____

“U…Uh…sure?”

____

“Yeah, say it with me. A.X.E.L. Gotta make sure you got it memorized.”

____

“Is that a catchphrase or something?” The blond asked, a laugh bubbling up in his throat.

____

“As a matter of fact it is, squirt.” The redhead snapped without missing a beat, flashing Roxas a wolfish grin. “Now, A.X.E.L.”

____

“Okay, asshole.” The blond teased, giving a smirk of his own. “I’ll call you your name if you can muster up enough brain cells to remember mine.”

____

The redhead almost doubled over laughing, the sound like almost like a mix between a cackle and breathless gasp. It ended in a small growl of the man clearly taking a breath through his throat as he leaned in close, ruffling the blond’s hair.

____

“Fine, Roxas.” He purred, his acid green eyes sparkling with mirth. Shocked and slightly embarrassed, Roxas could only choke out a—

____

“Fine, Axel.”

____

“Whoo! Now that my saved prince charming had called me by my real name, I gotta intimidate the other squirts into doing the same.”

____

Axel gave Roxas a wink, still chuckling under his breath before leaving the blond in a pleased but confusing wreck in the kitchen. One thing was certain though, that conversation left no room for Roxas’ thoughts to get jumbled. Giving a laugh of his own, he followed after the redhead after some time, getting a towel thrown in his face by Sora who had set up the game.

____


End file.
